My relationship with my brother...
Our relationship was good when we were young children. As Billy Joe (later Bill) became a teenager, he was not good to me. He would stand up for me to others. He physically hurt me (no he never molested me) by hitting me when I made him mad. The only time he ever left a sign was when he was 15 and I was 13. He got mad at me at a park baseball game and slapped me so hard that his hand print was still on my face several hours later when Mother got home from work. She gave him the punishment that I was NOT to iron his clothes anymore. She would not be ironing for him either (I did all the family ironing from 10 until I left home at 18). So, when Billy started ironing his blue jeans, he over dampened them. He ironed and ironed but could not iron them dry. He was my BIG Brother and I so wanted him to love me that I felt sorry for him and finished his ironing.
He went into the U.S.Navy at 18. It was so lonely with him gone. I missed him so much. When he went to Japan on a ship, he sent Mother a beautiful pillow cover from there and a set of china. He sent me a gorgeous scarf that I still have. I saw it recently and showed it to Tera.
He was almost finished with his first four years when he married the most beautiful girl in Gordo. She was also my husband’s cousin. I finally had a sister and such a sweet and pretty one. They were in Florida for a time and when he finished that tour, he came back to Tuscaloosa and worked for a dairy for a short time then got on with the VA Hospital. He was there 10 or 11 years and one day a patient decided it would be fun to pee on Billy. Valeria had to take him a clean uniform. That seemed to be the straw that returned my brother to the U.S. Navy. He enlisted and was sent to the Philippines. She and the girls had moved into a rental house and I guess he thought Valeria would not follow. She DID. My shy sister-in-law took two young children and went to join him in the Philippines. They were there for two years. She said it was scary.
As they were stationed stateside, Mother and Daddy would visit them. When they were in Puerto Rico, Mother and Daddy also visited them there. They were scheduled to go again when Daddy got sick. He paid for me, Tanya and Tera to go for ten days. Thomas was having to work seven 12-hour days so he stayed home. We had a marvelous time and when it was nearly time for us to leave, Daddy had a severe bleed and the spot could not be found for the doctors to stop the bleeding. My girls and I were severely sunburned but we caught the next flight out as stand-by, and Delta was great! They held planes for us and we even flew first class one leg of the journey. Bill and Valeria along with Cindy and Carolyn flew home for a new location a week after that. It was good he was through with the overseas tour because he needed to see our parents. Daddy had stopped bleeding at the time a Puerto Rican lady and I were praying for him on the plane. God is so good!
When Daddy became better and Bill’s furlough was over, they moved to a new area. Since they lived in the Alexandria, Virginia area more than once and the Carolinas, I have no record of where they were when we next visited. One time, we, with our three and Mother and Daddy, went to see them. We had pallets for the young folks or ”hung them on a nail”. But we were shown a wonderful time. Bill had been awarded the Courier of the year and went to Japan to get his award. We were so proud of him. Almost everywhere they lived, we visited. We always had a good time and were treated royally. We carried my cousin, Jean Cope, to Bill’s Retirement party in Baltimore, Maryland. That was a trip. They lived in Baltimore, Maryland. After Bill retired, they moved from Baltimore to Virginia. There had been some wonderful visits with my big brother and sister. Valeria was always so friendly and sweet. Bill was much more loving as he aged. He had not been demonstrative to me until then. I knew he loved me and I had always loved him so we had a great relationship. I admired what all he did for their church home. He seemed to enjoy life.. When we were around, he was loving to his girls and they adored him so it was easy to see how much he loved those girls and Valeria.all his family.He would be so proud of them all now. He and Valeria have ten or eleven grandchildren (I think).
My relationship from my side of this ‘discussion’ is that I ALWAYS loved my Big Brother and he ALWAYS loved me. We did not always show that love as we should have. Unfortunately, we cannot return to our youth and relive those days.
No comments:
Post a Comment